Undercarriages are already known which essentially comprise a leg having running gear mounted at one end and means at the other end for connection to the aircraft, and in particular to the rigid structure thereof.
The running gear is generally associated with damping means for absorbing the jolts to which the running gear may be subjected during taxiing, take off, and landing.
An undercarriage also generally includes a collapsible side-brace having one end connected to the leg and its other end connected to a rigid point on said rigid structure of the aircraft.
Further, in order to retract and to extend the undercarriage, jack means or the like are generally provided both to collapse the side-brace and to raise or lower the undercarriage into or out from the wells provided in the aircraft for housing the undercarriage during flight.
Naturally there are many types of undercarriage that fall within the general description given above. Each particular undercarriage is designed to meet differing constraints, such as: the shape of the fuselage; the available anchor points for the undercarriage; the weight of the aircraft; its capacity; the kinds of use to which it will be put; etc.
The present invention is particularly concerned with providing an undercarriage that is of simplified design, but which is nonetheless capable of being fitted to airplanes and to aircraft in general in which the anchor points available for fixing the leg and the side-brace are not necessarily aligned and which may be off-set relative to a plane of symmetry through the aircraft. Such off-set anchor points cause considerable problems in undercarriage design. Up to now the available solutions have been excessively complicated and, worse, very heavy, which is always detrimental to the construction of an aircraft.